How Do Drugs Affect The Brain?

When thinking about how drugs affect people, friends and family often focus on the visible. For example, they see the changes in personality, financial problems, and deteriorating health. However, they often don’t ask how do drugs affect the brain. It’s just as important because the brain plays such an important role in addiction.

Exactly How Do Drugs Affect the Brain?

It’s important to realize that different kinds of drugs affect the brain differently.

Alcohol, for example, reduces your ability to form memories. Heavy, long-term drinking or alcohol addiction can actually reduce your brain’s size and damage your ability to think. Cocaine, however, activates the pleasure center in your brain. Long-term use can cause paranoia and hallucinations.

The thing all drugs have in common is they alter the amount of certain chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters.

Neurotransmitters

There are several important neurotransmitters. The ones drugs most frequently affect include:

Dopamine

Serotonin

GABA

Norepinephrine

In fact, dopamine creates a sense of pleasure, while serotonin affects your mood. GABA is a natural calming agent. Norepinephrine, however, amps you up to take action.

It’s important to remember that your body makes these chemicals and for good reasons. In normal doses, they help keep you mentally and emotionally stable. Furthermore, they also help your brain prepare for or appreciate an activity.

For example, the smell of a steak on the grill triggers a small dopamine release in the brain of someone who likes steak. The smell becomes a source of pleasure.

What drugs typically do is trick your brain into making huge amounts of these chemicals. Cocaine does this by preventing the brain from turning off the flow of dopamine. As the dopamine builds up, you experience euphoria.

Treating Drug Dependence and Addiction

How do drugs affect the brain is an important question. Just as important is the question, what’s the best way to treat drug dependence and addiction?

For most kinds of dependence and addiction, the best option is a chemical dependence treatment center. Additionally, treatment centers offer medical staff and experts in addiction treatments. For example, some centers offer both traditional therapies and holistic treatments, such as: